Occupation in quagmire

Occupation v Democracy

By Sabah Jawad

Iraqi Democrats Against Occupation

As we approach, in March, the anniversary of the war launched on Iraq, the issue of elections and democracy continued to dominate the political debate among Iraqis, in the context of continuing dire security and economic conditions. The people of Iraq continue to lack basic services and infrastructure under the forces of occupation. Earlier promises by the United States and British governments to bring democracy and prosperity to this tortured land have evaporated as just so much hot air.

American and British occupiers are confronted with the fact that desire by the Iraqi people to see the back of Saddam Hussein does not extend to welcoming foreign occupation of their country. Faced with overwhelming rejection of the occupation, American and British occupiers now attempt to install yet another unelected puppet regime similar to that of the Iraqi governing council to maintain their occupation in Iraq for many years to come. They know that any free and democratic election will produce a government that reflects the popular will to end the occupation and gain sovereignty. Instead they are prepared to pay an estimated $3.9 billion every month to maintain their hated occupation.

The Iraqi people have shown, demonstrating in their hundreds of thousands, across the country that they reject the so called 'transfer of sovereignty' agreement between the occupying authority and the unelected Iraqi governing council announced on the 15 November. Paul Bremner, the US 'administrator' in Iraq, reiterated late in February that elections could take more than a year to organise. But the Iraqi people demand free and democratic elections, supervised by the United Nations, to be held in the next few months of this year. They reject as delay and obstruction the pretences of the occupying authority that elections cannot take place due to the lack of an electoral register, electoral law or even security considerations. If the political will existed, all these matters could be resolved quite quickly, according to Iraqi and international experts.

A year on, one thing is clear. In line with what the people of Iraqi and of the world said, the war and occupation of Iraq had nothing to do with liberation and democracy of the Iraqi people. It had everything to do with world domination and control of vital energy resources by the United States, the dominant world power and increasingly reliant on external sources of oil.

People in Britain can demonstrate on 20 March to support the end of occupation and the right of the Iraqi people to elections to help establish a free, democratic and united Iraq.